December 2014 playlist

Festive tidings, dear readers! It’s that time of year, so I couldn’t resist a seasonal playlist. I’ve included some classics (The Ronettes, The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl), a personal favourite of mine (St Etienne) – and Mariah. Cast any fears of missing out aside and remember that for many people, Christmas is not a happy time. For this reason, I wanted to include some less than cheery tracks, such as Sharon Jones and Kate Nash (warning: explicit language), both of which I’ve only heard for the first time in the last fortnight, and both of which are fab.

For me, the best seasonal playlist was created by Karin Dreijer Andersson of Fever Ray for BBC 6 music back in December 2009. I’ve searched far and wide to find a link to this, to no avail, although you can view the track-listing here. For me, this is the perfect seasonal soundtrack and one which has been on heavy rotation in my house for the past week. I’ve tried to pull all the songs I can from the list in an effort to recreate the playlist for you to enjoy. If you have Spotify, you can listen here. Not all the tracks are available through Spotify, however.

Finally, BBC 6 music has announced three programmes curated by Three Wise Women. These are shows by Alison Goldfrapp, Annie Clark from St Vincent and Neneh Cherry, in which they select tunes that have influenced and impressed them. Read more about it here (you’ll need to scroll down) and listen on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Wishing you all the very best for a happy Christmas!

The image is a black and white upper-body shot of Sarah Cracknell from St Etienne, on-stage, with her hands in the air, microphone in hand and a smile on her face. The image is by John A-P and is shared under a Creative Commons licence.

Jo is a London-based writer and editor specialising in LGBTQ+ lives, travel, women, culture and more.
She has written for The Independent, The i, DIVA magazine and PinkNews. From 2014-17, she was The F-Word’s music editor, and the site’s rotating editor from July 2017-18. Prior to focussing on writing full-time, Jo worked in the criminal justice system and charitable sector supporting victims of crime.
Originally from Yorkshire, she likes reading, long walks, music, petting stranger’s dogs and chocolate. You can find her on Twitter @MsWhitehead100